4 and many more
by WhenToothlessWrites
Summary: "I think he's broken." It's the 29th of February, and Hiccup was not expecting waking up that morning to all... that. Set after Httyd1! (A happy birthday to our favourite dork!)


**Yellow! It's a me, a writer!**

 **I'm going to be quick up here and just, even if it is now 4th March, wish our favourite Viking boy in the world a HAPPY BIRTHDAY HICCUP! I wish I could have posted this sooner but I had an evaluation right on the 1st.**

 **Still, Hiccup deserves the world and I wouldn't let this one pass. He's been such an inspiration, a role-model for me, and I think I speak for many of you. He's this character of such a depth, it becomes sort of scary... the level of relatableness. He's taught me values and to keep growing up with a golden heart no matter the dark times life throws this way, to be good to others and understanding of the world. Hiccup inspires me to be great... in my own way. To keep trying and failing and that it doesn't mean I'm any less for it. That I may be different from those I know, and even if they make me feel low about it, there's nothing like stepping your foot down and assuming yourself as you are, for that is what you can be best: yourself. Have a strong, defined personality, no matter how weird it may be, assuming what you like is just beautiful.**

 **He's helped me through many bad occasions even if fictional, and for that I'm thankful.**

 **Now, it looks like I wasn't that quick after all. What's new!**

 **Please enjoy! XD**

* * *

 _ Set after Httyd1_

* * *

 _Two lonely warriors open their mouths_

 _The third and the forth guard their house_

 _Rise and shine, go outside_

The second you shall find

Hiccup blinked several times, trying to wash the sleep off his eyes.

Then he read it again.

Wait, what? What was that supposed to mean?

"Hmm Toothless? Any idea how this might've gotten here?" He questioned his dragon. The black reptile grumbled in response, stretching widely like a cat on top of his stone bed. "Uhh."

Hiccup swung his legs- leg- to the side, his brow sinking over his eyes in confusion and wonder. After attaching his peg leg to what was left of his real leg, he once more grasped the piece of parchment that had laid on top of his face when he awoke.

"Two warriors? The second you shall find? Who? Me? What even?..." He mumbled out loud, proceeding to grab his fur vest and putting it on. "Is it supposed to be a riddle or something?" He checked both sides of the paper, searching for any evidence of who it might belong, who might've written it. Nothing.

"Wait." He mumbled upon noticing some runes on the inside of a turned corner, " **This is a riddle by the way, boooo** …" He read the smudged runes, as if someone had tried to erase them frantically and so, not that well.

Ressonating came from behind him, echoing inside his back as a black head made its way under his arm. Hiccup smiled, giving the scaly head a scratch, "So, what do you think bud? Wanna give it a try? Perhaps we can bring the others along as well."

As an answer, he was pushed up by his dragon's snout, slid off the Night Fury's head and landed on the leather saddle on his back. Toothless cooed wholeheartedly, starting to open his bat-like wings to the sides, his eyes twitching from his beloved best friend that sat on his back to the sky outside their escape window. "Grooooo!"

Hiccup laughed. "Fine. Fine you capricious lizard, a morning-flight it is then. You're lucky I like you." He smiled, waving his index finger in a lecture-like manner, "But then we'll try to solve this o' so great mystery, I'm curious." They shot outside, into the frigid air so usual of the cold February mornings, "Lucky for us, I already have an idea where this clue might be leading us to. And the others might just be there already."

...

"Well, this one's new…" Hiccup commented after stepping prosthetic inside the place, "I really thought they'd be in the Great Hall."

His eyes wandered around the place in wonder, "Actually, I really thought _someone_ would be in the Great Hall at all!" He waved his hands about as Toothless bounded forward, sniffing the air.

Hiccup too followed in small steps. _What was going on? Where was everyone? "_ Now that I think about it…" He realized, "There was no one outsider this side of Berk as well…"

And just like that, the tables were in place, the chairs were in place, the hearth was out and the giant hall embedded in darkness and heavy silence- as was the village of Berk from what he'd seen. He let his hand slide across the furniture's harsh surface, looking for something that might give him a clue to what was happening. After nearly completing his walk around all the tables, his loyal Night Fury came bounding about happily, which boosted the feeling in his gut that something was reaaaallly off there… Otherwise, Toothlesss would be growling and alert had something bad happened right?

And they were where that one clue had clued them to. The two Viking guardions that stood each on a side of the Great Hall's giant door and staircase. There had to be something else there.

"Wat'cha got there buddy?" Hiccup asked, noticing the yellowed paper hanging out of Toothless' mouth. He picked up the parchment, waved it around to lessen the amout of drool sticking to it and smoothed it on a table.

 _You think you're so smart agh_

 _Well don't believe yourself_

 _They said me to tell ya_

 _The docks are the answer wait that's not supposted to be written there -._

"And then there's something smudged on the end of the last phrase." He told the dragon who curiously sat by his side, tilting his head at the riddle his rider read. "Though with the way they wrote supposed I can think of a four-letter nickname that fits there like a glove."

"Grooo grooo groo!" Toothless laughed at the sight of the boy's face. "Well, off to the docks then. We better find out what those muttonheads are planning before the island gets put in the deserted rank permanently."

...

"There's just one thing I can't quite grasp here, Toothless." Hiccup declared as he slid off his dragon's back and onto the wooden planks making the docks, "Why the Hel would they think about hiding a piece of parchment in the wholy-windy, freezing, still-iced docks in the ends of February!"

Crossing his arms, he walked about the planks, trying to conserve some heat. Spring was surely coming, yet on Berk that meant you no longer froze to death by simply stepping outside. Unless you went to the docks, right by the sea. Where he just so happened to be. Cold never really left entirely, and for as used to it as Hiccup was, he still hated it.

"If I were a brainless nut," He mumbled, looking around, "Where would I hide a riddle?"

He analyzed the place: There were boats, and more boats, and small wheel-carts to help carry things out of the boats and to the boats, there were nets dropped about in that o' so organized Viking demeanor along with weapons here and there, chests, barrels. For such an open space, there were plenty of places they could've hid the next riddle.

Yes. Because he was sure there had to be another clue. People didn't just vanish from a village at the same time you woke up with a riddle on your face, and then found a second one. This was starting to become incredibly incredulous and ridiculous. Were they low enough for this all to be a Loki-prank? What next? In the end he'd find the whole village squeezed together inside a bucket on top of a door falling towards his head as he passed? They were all too fat to fit.

What kind of prank was that? And what had a whole village to do with it?

By now he was starting to get even more confused and whatever worry he'd had for a possible attack from the Outcasts or another enemy tribe was now dueling at fast speed into exasperation. That riddle surely had Tuffnut's name on it, and he already dreaded whatever trouble the twins had caused this time to make the village fleed, or hide- something Berkians hadn't done for years, even with Dragon Raids nearly killing them all every passing night about an year ago. The only thing off there, was that the first clue was way too well thought out, and the runes seemed like those of Fishlegs... Exactly. What did _he_ have to do with it?

Perhaps he was being forced to it. Fishlegs was quite an easy pray for the twins' esquemes.

He sighed, really fed up with the idea of having to search for such small thing in such a large place. Toothless had decided that getting himself stuck in the middle of the fishing nets was a wonderful idea for it smelled of fish and so this time Hiccup could not count with his dragon's help to simply show up by his side with an over drooled riddle in his mouth.

"Well…" He patted the side of his legs, strolling about. Yes. He could give up. Yes. He was way too curious to give up, after all, all this had to lead somewhere.

"Wait…" The twins were no fools when they wanted to, and for their pranks they usually went a little over the edge with their plans. All he had to do was follow the riddle he already had!

Easy! _You think you're so smart agh?_

 _"_ This is the twins, after all! Agh as in argh, and smart…. Smart… the rudder of course! But which one?-" He shut his mouth upon seeing Tradon Johan's ship anchored on his left. "Right."

 _A golden treasure that never stays_

 _The coin whose face gives wealth to all_

 _Strands, chains and dust of gold_

 _Are all bought with its shining grace_

"Hmm… This one's surely not the twins." Hiccup mumbled eyeing the letters, "For one thing I'm sure, everything's well written!"

"Hey Toothless!" He called, racing towards his dragon who, by now, no longer found the smell of the nets he was stuck in entrancing. Hiccup chuckled to himself, "Well now I shouldn't help you, right? You got yourself in there, bud."

The Night Fury suddenly stopped stuck in his fidgeting, he glared at the boy threateningly.

"Or- or maybe- I-I of course I should help you." He stuttered, picking his knife from his only boot. He had the sensation he'd done something similar to this before, actually. Toothless cooed in glee, adoring him with big, shiny green eyes. "Ah Toothless you're no Night Fury, you're just a puppy aren't you bud?"

And why did that puppy look so extraordinarily happy that day, more than usual?

"Alright, look here, I think I already know this one." Hiccup shared after having the dragon free from the nets. He knelt on the floor, a confused expression taking over his features.

"They want us to fly to the sun?"

Toothless cooed and Hiccup had the slight impression he did so because he couldn't shrug his shoulders.

...

"Alright so… I never really thought…" He let his mouth shut, "You know what? Nevermind."

"Groo…"

"How even has this day gotten to this point? Oh right! I opened my eyes in the morning… Didn't even get out of bed!"

"Groo…"

Hiccup petted the Night Fury's head. "Oh no, Toothless. Of course I'm still curious, I mean, the thing is… When the riddle meantioned the sun, I didn't really see the point in flying to it. Now…" He waved frantically, exasperated at the flock of dragons flying in front of them. "Now, I'm starting to rethink this curiosity of mine."

"I mean… A Deadly Nadder migration? What does Astrid have to do with all of… all of _THIS?!"_

Shaking his head, he pulled the folded segment of parchment out of his personal book. "Well, doesn't mean I'm giving it up, though they better have a good enough reason to fail class, abduct the entire village and make us do these errands all around the island." He mused, "Though they wouldn't run that low for a Loki'ing, right? Dad wouldn't let them, and he wasn't home neither… Weird… just… weird, nothing of this makes sense. And the timing for the flock..." He shook his head.

Toothless pumped his wings, making them soar over the never ending flock of Nadders. The never ending flock of Nadders that just so happened to be a task for the Academy that day. The never ending flock of Nadders that weren't supposed to have taken that route, unless the Riders had completed that task. With the rock sliding on the southeast of one of the main mountains of the isle of Berk, the Nadders would be in harms way, therefore the teens were supposed to deviate their curse around it, making them pass by the northeast instead. This was the Northeast.

Meaning, someone wasn't so disappeared after all.

Hiccup followed the dragons, eyeing their colours. With the sun hitting them straight on, their beautiful colours gained more notice, raging from a palleette of forest green, to dark red. And then, he noticed the sand-like colour of one of them.

Hiccup smiled slyly, eyes shining brightly. Nadders didn't come in gold. Not that often, at least.

"Fly us close bud, I wanna see if he's trained." He said to his dragon, patting him on the head. Toothless did as he was asked, hovering above the peculiar dragon. "Now, I know you're going to call me crazy, but I'll have to jump onto… her, it's a her, her back alright bud?"

Toothless nearly flipped.

"C'mon now, I've jumped off your back countless times before, you big baby. There, see, there's our next riddle. Everything's planned to the detail, I'm impressed and extra curious, what has gone to those heads today?"

He landed sitting on the Nadder's curved back, and as he suspected, it didn't even flinch.

 _What has roots, nobody can see_

 _Even if it's taller than the trees_

 _What has a foot, but no legs_

 _(No, it's not you, see leg… foot! Ha! Get it?)_

 _Up up it goes, yet it never grows?_

Hiccup actually deadpanned this time. "Really Snotout? You too? You even wrote your own laugh on it?" He sighed. "Well Toothless, if you can get me out of here, we've got a mountain to visit."

Toothless shot him a oh-so-now-I-have-to-help-you look. Or maybe it was just his impression.

...

"This is a mountain. Now what?" The auburn haired boy thought out loud, "Uh?"

Toothless cooed, eyeing the boy lovingly. He knew something his Hiccup didn't.

"Hmm… Let's see." He pulled out the latest riddle and reread it again. " What has roots nobody can see? Eh… let's just ignore that part… Up up it goes yet it never grows."

"This has got to be it bud." He looked around, "There's no way we're going to find it in this whole mountain!- Toothless, WHOAH!" Hiccup gripped his saddle's handles as the Night Fury bolted forward, taking them to where only Thor knew where.

As it turned out, it wasn't that far away. The piece of parchment was on a small crevice, tucked in between two rocks and some dandelions that had miraculously flourished from the small patches of snow left there. "Toothless! You found it!" Then he frowned, "How… Well, it doesn't matter, let's get this over with."

 ** _A thing wich is green_**

 ** _And some eat_**

 ** _And some travel thourght it_**

He successfully read, after squeezing his eyes nearly shut for how smudged the charchoal was.

 _my first is in frog but not in toad,_

 _my second is in rained, but not in snowed,_

 _my third is in plant but not in flower,_

 _my fourth is in leadership but not in power,_

 _my last is tricky so listen intently,_

 _slow,_

 _steady,_

 _ssh silenty._

 _This one's still mine, they all just some swankys I'll tell them ***********_

"Oookay…" Hiccup widened his eyes, "So you hmm, found it because it smelled of fish? Ruffnut's hair oil then?"

Toothless cooed as if nodding.

"Well, that was productive so, let's just ignore how weird it actually is though."

...

"Well Toothless, I have something very shocking to tell you, bud. You see, the whole forest just so happens to… be covered in grass! Yay!"

"Grooo…?" Toothless warbled as he walked through the forest, Hiccup on his back.

"Yeah, yeah I know right! So… clarifying!" Hiccup laughed perhaps a bit maniacally, "What the Hel is going oooon!? I just wanna know! Is it too much to ask? Where are the riders? Where's Dad? Where's the whole freaking village? Why the riddles? They went from easy to simply missing everything! I can't make things up!"

"Grooo…"

"Exactly! This is just… I can't even express myself! This is so confusing! They can't have been kidnapped, right bud? Those riddles are obviously not written by some psycopath of any sort! It was…"

Toothless carefully sniffled the ground. He glanced at his rider speaking and speaking and speaking while sitting on his saddle. Good. He was distracted. And that was just the right place. The last clue was in plain sight, the place was near.

This had been the place they'd agreed he'd do it.

With a last glance up at his boy, and dearly hoping Hiccup wouldn't get mad at him in the end, Toothless put his Night Fury skills to his own use. With a jolt, he sent his rider flying up, then quickly bolted off, out of sight faster than a bolt of lightning.

Hiccup never even saw what hit him.

"Too-" He groaned, clutching the shoulder he's landed on, "Toothless! What are you doing?!" Hiccup called, watching the dragon simply vanish into thin air.

Great, now Toothless too.

That day simply had nothing of what he'd planned on it.

Sigh. Well, one way or another, it was just another lost day anyway.

"But what…?" Hiccup mumbled. "-Is this? OH SO YOU'RE WITH THEM!" He yelled, clutching the small piece of paper in his fist and waving it about madly.

He. Was. Just. So. Confused!

"This better say something a bit more clear!" He yelled to where the black lizard had gone off to, as if he was hidden somewhere listening to him, as he started reading the riddle.

 _The end._

Moments passed, then a couple more. It wasn't much longer until Hiccup fell on his back with a loud sigh.

Sigh. He had sighed a lot that day and what… two hours had passed since he left bed? Three? Certaintly less.

He held the last riddle above his head, eyeing, staring, waiting for it to do something…. Anything! Anything but saying T _he End._ After all, how was he supposed to work with something like _The End_? That was it? All those clues so what? So he could lie there on the grass the whole day?

Well, at least the previous riddle he had gotten right.

Then, he sit. No. There was no way he would simply stay there in a foul mood, moping. Nope. That had to mean something. He was sure of it. There had to be something in those riddles he had yet to decipher!

Reaching into his pouch, Hiccup pulled the papers out, deploying them out there, on the grass. Luckily for hm, in that clearing, there wasn't a single hint of wind that could blow them away.

"Alright Hiccup, think. Think! They're relying on you! Forget the fact that for some mind-blowing reason your best-friend has just ditched you, and that everyone you know simply vanished. Think!" He picked some papers up, then dropped them, then picked them up again. He displayed them all with the writings turned upwards, then downwards. "They have got to have something in common. Think! The last one doesn't mean a word, but it has got to belong somewhere."

He held his chin with his thumb and index, and if anyone stood close enough they'd hear the gears working inside his head.

"WAIT! That's it!" He shot to his feet, then realized the riddles were on the ground. Squating, he began to work, "They're all pieces, they're not intact. Which means that… if I can just… make their sides fit, it'll form… That I was not expecting." Stretching up, Hiccup put his hands on his hips, "Now what even has this form?" He mumbled, looking around.

Trees. Trees. More trees. The path Toothless had run off to. Trees.

He gasped. The Cove! It had to be the cove! He knew this part of the forest like the palm of his hand now that he realized it! And ever since they'd left the Great Hall, all the riddles had to do with nature.

That form the papers formed, irregular yet elliptic. There was only one place he knew with that shape.

Excitedly Hiccup gathered the riddles, bolting off in the direction his dragon had gone to. He was extremely confused about the whole ordeal. Nonetheless, he was glad he'd solved part of the mystery.

Soon enough, there it was.

The Cove.

Dropping his pace to a slower one, Hiccup made his way towards the entrance since he had no dragon to fly in with. His eyebrows were once again sinking into his puzzled eyes.

He stepped inside.

His eyes widened.

"What in the name of Thor…?" Escaped his lips.

Villagers, villagers stood inside. They had food, they had drinks, they talked in hushed voices.

Then, they all froze. Stares were sent his way, then near him. The Riders were there, targets to the stares of the villagers. They had their dragons with them, including Toothless. He could just spot his father's wide flaming red beard among the people, Gobber at his side. Hel, even Gothi he found there. Johan!

By the time his eyebrows had nearly taken off towards the sky, Hiccup caught sight of Astrid, bossing the others around.

It all happened so fast he didn't even fully grasp it.

She turned around widly, eyebrows sky-high, mouth in an 'o'. Snotlout, Ruffnut, Tuffnut and Fishlegs fell silent. He made out a cuss from somewhere in the crowd, or really, from his friends.

His green eyes had just noticed the fabric painted with big red, green, blue and orange letters above him before they all seemed to find their voices before Hiccup did.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

There were sheers, and shouts. Men and women held their mugs high in the air.

Astrid came just as fast as Toothless, throwing herself against him, enveloping him in a strong, strong hug.

And poor Hiccup was still lost back there in that "Happy birthday" sign.

Before the girl let go, the others joined in as well, albeit not long. He got pats on his back and shoulders.

"Happy birthday! You got here too fast!" Astrid told him, "When Toothless got here we all panicked!"

"I told you we should've wrote them harder, but nooooo, listen to Snotlout? Pfff…"

"Of course he got them fast, he's Hiccup guys, and he had Toothless. They're unstoppable!" Fishlegs quickly added. Then, he turned to his friend, a smile as big as him in size adorning his face, "Happy birthday Hiccup!"

"Leap day boy!" The twins sneered. "So, exactly how old are you now?" Ruffnut questioned, a sly glim in her stormy-grey eyes.

"Our Hiccup here is… three years old now!" Snotlout beamed, "Still a baby."

"Well, technically Snotlout, he's four now." Fishlegs corrected. "Four years times four yeas equals sixteen."

"Aye kids, leave it be. Let the boy be sixteen years old now," The Chief declared, approaching the group with the blond man hot on his tail.

"'appy birthday laddie!" Gober cheered, waving his mug-phrostetic about, mead splashing onto his clothes, the grass and anyone unlucky enough to be near him as he swung his 'hand' about.

"Hiccup." The red-haired man stopped in front of his son, briefly, before he scooped the boy in his big arms, squeezing the life out of him, "Happy birthday son! You're so grown up!"

"He's four Chief." Tuffnut chuckled.

Toothless suddenly erupted in the middle of the group, tongue hanging happily out of his mouth. He was vibrating with all the attention his rider was being given. His boy really deserved it. He pushed his nose against the auburn-haired's ribs, cooing in glee.

"So, you liked your surprise?" Astrid asked, eyes shinning brightly. She hand't had much time to do it, but she'd worked hard for it. "Hiccup? Hiccup? Why are you so quiet? You don't like it?"

"What's the problem son?" Stoick questioned, taking in the emotions on his son's face.

Hiccup shook his head vigorously, too stunned to reply. He was vaguely aware of his own mouth hanging open like an authentic fool.

What do you mean he had forgotten his own birthday?! He only got one every four years! Why- Oh.

Right.

No one had ever really cared the past years. So he sort of started ignoring it for his own sake.

Bad habits die hard, he guessed.

But now, he had friends, and a father that cared. He had a village that accepted him. And he was frozen in his shock, in his surprise. And making a fool out of himself. Again. Sometimes Hiccup wished he was like many other Vikings, that he didn't have all those many feelings. But most of all…He wished he could move, speak, say something! Thank them! But this was all so new to him, he didn't know what to do, what to say, in the end, what to show, how to show it!

Thor, his brain might've just melted down entirely.

Was… was this really happening?

Astrid furrowed her eyebrows, angling her head to the side so that it got in front of his green eyes. They were round, shining, trembling, becoming watery. A storm of emotions, bottled inside, flashed throughout the emeralds. In the end, though, she realized what really stood out from the hurling storm. How those sparkling eyes, apart from everything, couldn't help but feel...

"I think he's broken." Snotlout let out, his words clear even if muttered, among the awkward silence that hung in the air.

"Oh no! It wasn't us, we swear!" The twins choked out. Tuffnut, like his sister, quickly held his hands in front of him, "We didn't break anything this time! Not for the past 2 hours!"

...They were happy.

"Son? Are you alright?"

"Ah' thin' he finally boiled ou' Stoick." A half-drunk Gobber slurred.

Astrid smiled, her blue eyes sweet and gentle. "Actually, I think he's getting fixed." She whispered, loud enough so that only the auburn-haired boy could hear her response to Snotlout's words. Hiccup seemed to break out of his trance, blinking his eyes and letting a large, adorable smile engulf his face. Astrid feared his cheeks would be ripped off, but at the same time, didn't really care for Hiccup had boldly thrown his arms around her, and she could just feel the shaking feeling of euphory inside his small, frail ribcage.

"Thank you."

"You forgot your own birthday, didn't you? You idiot?" She whispered, keeping the real reason why he'd done it inside. Those were past times, and never again, on her watch, would Hiccup ever feel forgotten again.

He'd stiffened for a bit, but was quick to shake it off, opting to not answer that."Thank you. For all the work… Those riddles, you actually bothered." He chuckled lightly, "Thor, I- I don't… Thank you."

"No, Hiccup. Thank _you."_ She felt him smile against her cheek before he was retreating and turning around to face the now-understanding semblance of his father.

"Ew… I'm not gonna hug him-Oof." Snotlout said, earning an elbow to the stomach from the blonde axe-wielder.

Hiccup, meanwhile, was nearly being squeezed to death, but who cared? Not him, that's for sure- he was loving it.

"Thank you, Dad. I- I don't deserve it…"

"No, son. Ye deserve so much more." Stoick smiled through his beard. He might not have been good with words, but right at that moment, it was his pride speaking, "You've taught me things no other lad would ever be able to: what matters is what's inside. And you, son, are the strongest of us all. All we needed was a bit more of... this." His arms jolted around Hiccup's small form, as he sort of gestured at the boy.

Hiccup blinked, biting his lips as his cheeks started to hurt from the massive growing smile. _You just gestured to all of me._

"Pride is not the word I'm looking for… but, well, I'm proud to have ye as my son. Happy birthday, Hiccup."

Then, the Chief rose to his full height and size, facing a mass of strangely quiet Hooligans watching the scene unfold. Hiccup felt the blood rush to his face. "Well, then. What're ye all waiting for?"

Dozens of eyes blinked at his words. Gobber stepped forward with his wooden-leg and mug-like hand. "What're ye waitin' fer ye bunch o' yak-heads, ye herd the Chief. Start the party!"

And the cove was filled with shouts of agreement, joy and ever-growing drunk happy birthday wishes.

Toothless came to his rider, head low as if asking if he was mad with him for having left. Hiccup threw him a raised-eyebrow look, crossing his arms. The Night Fury cried, gently bumping his nose against the boy's side, and Hiccup's face couldn't keep holding that fake scowl anymore. He threw his arms around his best friend's head, squeezing tightly, eyes closed and an enourmous grin on his face. "Ah, bud. I can't really be mad at you, now, can I? Seems like you made me soft." He joked.

He let his forehead rest against the reprilian's, right in front of those toxic green eyes. "You're the one I have to thank to, bud. You're the reason for all of this. Thank you, for yourself Toothless. You're the best gift I could have been blessed with. I love you, buddy." Toothless ressonated at his words, as if saying them back in his own dragon way. He curled his tail around his boy, pushing his snout againt Hiccup's cheeks repeatedly, making the now-sixteen-year-old laugh loudly.

Astrid smiled, watching from the side. Her heart fluttered at the feeling of an accomplished mission. She let it fill her chest. More than that, the sight before her was wordlessly gratifying. She decided she loved seeing that special boy smile as he hugged the once fierce Night Fury. Deep down, even if she tried to deny it, she knew the black dragon wouldn't be the only positive change the boy would bring them along the years yet to come.

And if Hiccup could change an entire village about dragons, and her own insides to the point of explicitly showing she cared, then she could also change that way his shoulders were hunched as if he still was uncalled-for, and how uncomfortable he felt celebrating his own birthday. She'd have every other next year for it, even if he managed to match his weirdness with his birthdate. Ironic, she scoffed, he was so unique, his birthday had to as well: 29th of February.

Back to the duo, Hiccup was being drenched in dragon drool, all the while complaining about how it wouldn't wash out. Nevertheless, his voice couldn't quite reach a close-enough to serious scolding tone what with how gleeful he felt.

Toothless laughed in his own dragon-way, big green eyes turned black as his irises dilated in fondness and pure adoration.

He cooed. _Happy hatching-day, my little hatchling._

* * *

 **Please share with me what you think! I believe, for once, I'm rather satisfied with how this work turned out. Be kind, though, don't forget! ^^**

 **Also, I was having a lot of Hicctooth feelings while I wrote this, might be _just_ a bit obvious lol. They're so precious, in great need of protection my cuties aw. :^**

 **Ba-bai everybody! *waves***


End file.
